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That time a commercial drywall foreman told me to stop pre-filling my joints
About a year ago I was working a big job in an office building near Nashville and this old foreman walked by, saw me pre-filling my butt joints with setting compound before taping, and told me I was wasting my time. He said just lay the tape in all-purpose and come back the next day to coat it. I thought he was crazy because I've always pre-filled to avoid bubbles and blisters. Tried it his way on the next wall and sure enough got a few air pockets that took extra sanding to fix. Has anyone else had luck skipping the pre-fill step on larger commercial jobs or should I stick to my old method?
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emmaclark3mo ago
Guess my tape's union doesn't negotiate with blisters either.
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keith9003mo ago
Exactly! And you know what kills me? People who skip the primer then blame the paint for being blotchy. Same with drywall, gotta do the boring stuff right first or you're just making work for yourself later.
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the_jennifer3mo ago
Their comment about "my tape's union doesn't negotiate with blisters" REALLY made me laugh because it's TRUE. But here's the thing I keep noticing in drywall AND in life: people always try to shortcut the boring prep work. It's like when my brother skips the primer on his paint jobs then wonders why the color looks blotchy. Pre-filling those joints is the same as taking time to read the instructions on a new tool. You can skip it and hope for the best, but the result almost always proves the original way was smarter.
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